County Greater Manchester Created 1918 European Parliament constituency North West England | Electorate 73,656 (December 2010) Number of members One | |
 | ||
Member of parliament Jeff Smith (Labour Party) | ||
Manchester Withington is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Jeff Smith of Labour.
Contents
Boundaries
1918–1950: The County Borough of Manchester wards of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Didsbury, and Withington.
1950–1955: The County Borough of Manchester wards of Rusholme and Withington.
1955–1974: The County Borough of Manchester wards of Barlow Moor, Burnage, Levenshulme, Old Moat, and Withington.
1974–1983: The County Borough of Manchester wards of Barlow Moor, Burnage, Didsbury, Old Moat, and Withington.
1983–2010: The City of Manchester wards of Barlow Moor, Burnage, Chorlton, Didsbury, Old Moat, and Withington.
2010–present: The City of Manchester wards of Burnage, Chorlton, Chorlton Park, Didsbury East, Didsbury West, Old Moat, and Withington.
Members of Parliament
Jeff Smith is the current Labour MP for the constituency. He was elected at the 2015 general election, defeating the Liberal Democrat incumbent John Leech who had held the seat since 2005.
History
Manchester Withington was mostly before 1987 (with three years of Liberal Party representation near its 1918 inception) Conservative. With this designation of MP, it even resisted being gained by Labour in its massive landslide victories in 1945 and 1966. However, in 1987 the seat turned red for the first time and remained so until 2005 when it was gained by a Liberal Democrat.
Constituency profile
This constituency contains the medium-to-high income average areas of Chorlton and Didsbury, as well as mixed Old Moat and Withington neighbourhoods. A seat south of Manchester's city centre with a large student population, the seat had in 2005 a strong reaction by many voters including students, opposing Labour's policy of top-up fees. The Conservatives have, bucking the national and regional results in both 2010 and 2015, faced a significant fall in their share of the vote, dropping into third place both times. In 2015, facing the electoral opposition to the Liberal Democrat involvement in the First Cameron ministry, Leech, who had held the seat for ten years and was a well respected local MP, lost the seat to Labour.